The widower of a woman who died in the Canterbury Television (CTV) building says he just wants answers, not fingers pointed.

The final week of a coroner’s inquest today heard evidence into the deaths of eight victims who were known to have been alive after the building collapsed in the February 2011 earthquake but were unable to be rescued.

Alec Cvetanov, who campaigned for a review after the death of his wife, Tamara Cvetanova, raised concerns about the rescue co-ordination, resources devoted to the area where his wife had been communicating from by telephone for up to 12 hours after the collapse, the lack of cameras and listening devices, the use of heavy machinery to clear rubble and his treatment by emergency services during and after the rescue effort.

He fought back tears as he asked for answers to whether she was killed by the fire that swept through the building or later collapses of the rubble.

Cvetanov was upset at not being allowed to identify the body and said his wife’s exact cause of death was never released.

Police told him her body was ‘‘smashed, broken and burnt’’ and the cause of death was ‘‘the earthquake’’, he said.

The review campaign was solely about lessons that could be learnt, Cvetanov said.

‘‘I want all the rescue services in New Zealand to learn from Tamara’s death so that somebody else does not die in similar circumstances in the future, here or abroad.’’

Cvetanov told the inquest he made contact with his wife about six times between 10.48pm and 11.25pm.

She had been at King’s Education on the building’s third floor at the time of the quake.

The first call cut out after 20 seconds, but Cvetanov was able to make contact again less than a minute later.

‘‘I was excited and yelled, ‘Where are you?’ She said, ‘In my classroom’.’’

Cvetanov said he knew the room was near the window on the eastern, or Madras St, side.

Several short calls between Cvetanov, his wife and police were exchanged before he was able to glean more information.